One of my dearest friends picked me up from the airport and took me straight to Seabirds Kitchen for some insanely delicious vegan grub. We got the purple taquitos to start, which were delicious. My friend's boyfriend got his favorite dish there, the tamales which is stuffed with a nut-made chorizo and cashew sour cream. I settled on splitting the holy smokes bowl and the biscuits and gravy with my friend. The holy smokes bowl was, in fact, holy smokes good- and probably my favorite thing I tried at the restaurant. I mean, can you go wrong with warmed dino kale, topped with BBQ jackfruit, avocado... need I go on? The Biscuits & Gravy was also delicious, I have a thing for warm wilted dino kale and rich sauces, if you haven't noticed.

One of the things I love about Real Food Daily is almost everything has a gluten free and raw option. We started with a GF southern style cornbread and the house soup of the day, both were soooo good. But the winner was the "Charlie" a vegan tuna made out of nuts, with plant-based pepper-jack cheese, pressed between two slices of toasty bread. I wanted so badly to get it in the raw wrap- but I was having some slight pain and discomfort and raw/cold foods make the pain a lot worse. So with that, I indulged in the bread and it was delicious.

I frequently visited this place since it was walking distance from where I was staying, and let me just say- they have hemp milk for the coffee! That alone should sell you.

Hemp Milk & Gingerbread Late

Tempeh Burrito Bowl

Gluten-Free Avocado Toast

Other Great Eats in Santa Monica (which I was too busy enjoying to remember to take pictures of):

Sugarfish: So this place always has an hour wait, no matter that it's early or that it's a weeknight. And the menu is weird, they basically just have sushi, and a Prix Fixe menu- no miso soup ( Weird, RIGHT?!), and you can't even order a side of sushi rice (or any rice for that matter) "Because you can only get rice inside the sushi roll". Whatever. That sort of rubbed me the wrong way because I wasn't crazy hungry and I was really excited about just getting a cup of soup and a side of rice. Anyways, my cousin insisted my friend and I split the Prix Fixe menu called "Trust Me". I've never had anything like that before, the food comes out in a series of little plates but holy cow it was insanely delicious and so even though they don't have soup and you can't get rice, just get the Trust Me and you'll be hooked.

Huckleberry: Great little breakfast/brunch place. And they make their own almond milk for the coffee, which is so delicious.

Pot & Pan: The best Thai in Santa Monica. A hole in the wall place, nothing special about the atmosphere but the food is authentic and delicious.

In Costa Mesa, where Seabirds Kitchen is located.

Me being a tourist...

Some gorgeous mall in LA that reminded me of Disney World, with my cousin and his girlfriend.